- ELIOT MARSHALL CONTINUES IMPROVEMENT

by Jeff Cain – MMAWeekly.com
Eliot Marshall improved his overall professional mixed martial arts record to 8-1, including 3-0 in the UFC, with his win over Jason Brilz at UFC 103. Marshall was critical of his performance, but was pleased with certain aspects of the fight.

“I wish I could have done better. I’m not super happy with the performance,” Marshall told MMAWeekly.com. “I showed improvement in my wrestling. Everyone has been able to get me down before as far as wrestlers. Now they weren’t able to. He wasn’t able to and he’s gotten everyone down in every single one of his fights.”

“I think I stuffed about ten to fifteen takedowns in that fight, and man I was wrestling my (expletive) off for that fight.”

In his last two fights, Marshall displayed his stand up ability, something he’s not always done.

“I said to them all in the back before the fight, man this is some (expletive). I’m a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt trying to keep it on the feet,” said the Colorado light heavyweight. “It’s what you have to do in today’s MMA. You can’t let a wrestler take you down and ride you out, and that’s what Brilz is best at.”

Marshall continues to improve his skill set, becoming more and more well-rounded.

“Every fight so far I’ve improved in the UFC I feel like,” said Marshall. “The Vinny Magalhaes fight I couldn’t really rely on my jiu-jitsu at all, and with the Brilz fight with the wrestling.”

“This fight I knew I could stay on the feet, but the question was could I keep it on the feet? Could I not get taken down? And I showed that. It’s just a process,” added Marshall. “Like I said after the fight, I’m a young fighter. I only have ten fights or so, eleven fights. It just takes time. Like if you look at some of Rashad Evans’ first fights coming off the show, I think he had two or three split decisions.”

“It’s just a process. That’s what Greg Jackson tells me all the time. This is just a process, and eventually when that process starts to come together you start to explode.”